March in the garden

March is a good time to start summer vegetables from seeds. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Nan Sterman

It’s a busy month for gardeners! There’s lots to do and lots to learn.

• The Master Gardener Spring Seminar is Saturday, March 18, at the San Diego County Operations Center. Attend a sneak preview of my upcoming book, “Hot Colors, Dry Garden,” along with your choice of 20 other talks. Shop for plants, garden gadgets, books and much more. Sign up at www.mastergardenerssandiego.org.

• Garden tours start this month. First up is the Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association’s annual garden tour on March 18. While you are there, enjoy an impressive wildflower bloom, too. Just don’t bring those plants or flowers home. If you pick wildflowers, you pick off next year’s seeds, wiping out those plants’ future generations — maybe forever. Garden tour and wildflower bloom information at www.abdnha.org.

• Find more local garden events at www.SanDiegoGardenCalendar.com.

• Pull weeds now, before they go to seed and sow next year’s crop. Pick by hand, use a hoe, or spray with horticultural vinegar (follow label directions). Get those roots!

• Start your summer vegetable garden from seed now. Start tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and more in containers, then plant into the garden once the soil warms up, in six to eight weeks.

• Cut down cover crops and turn them into the soil. They’ll compost by the time you plant spring veggies.

• Move container plants to the next larger size pot before spring growth starts. As you dig out each plant, shake the old potting soil off the roots and discard. Replant with fresh potting soil, some organic, time-release fertilizer and a few handfuls of worm castings. Top the potting soil with 2 inches of small, round gravel for a finished look and to help conserve moisture.